His reviews are entertaining, but I disagree more often that not with the conclusions.To me, the Dead is an individual experience formed by our own tastes and preferences. It ain't rocket science-like precise.

Hunter said it best:
"There is a road, no simple highway
Between the dawn and the dark of night
And if you go, no one may follow
That path is for your steps alone."

You all would be well served to listen to that reviewer.
I don't know this person but I have learned much from the reviews.
I thought I knew alot..... (didn't)
Thanks Mind Wonderin for all the Info. and great reviews.
Keep up the good work.

Middle show of the '74 goodbye run, and almost as good as the previous night. Maybe the run's not the best of '74 (for example 8/4-6), but there are some specific highlights. Late '74 can sometimes be sluggish and laidback - the frightening specter of mid-70s California soft rock that causes reviling from some sectors toward the band. Given that two albums (plus filler on others) have come from this run, you'd think it would be one of their best. Truth is that it's more the historical aspect - they played much better in August and September; but the heat problem during this run surely factored. Essentially, the Ned Lagin set break had the band come out and jam it into Dark Star>Morning Dew, more or less making it a three-set show (on the nights before and after, Seastones was its own set-break piece).

First Set. Starts with an AUD for Around & Around, then a sleepy, forgettable Sugaree (that you'll recognize from Steal Your Face). Average stuff until a painfully slowwwww Peggy-O (after the hiatus they improved it by switching from the key of "A" to "G"). Beat it on Down the Line-6 is also on SYF. Things first pop above average for Jack Straw, which has a classic descending diatonic from Jer @1:58. The Let it Grow is on the Movie Soundtrack and was the final version with the Weather Report prelude (dropped post-hiatus). Though it's out of tune, Billy had really perfected his drums here.

Second Set. Also on Movie, this was the only Dark Star of the run - in fact one of only 5 full ones in '74. It's 18 minutes into the jam out of Seastones before the thematic riff appears and another two minutes before it forms lyrically! So, depending how you count, it's a 36-minute version.

Third Set. Consistently above average, it's one of the three best sets of the run. Ship is solid, about as good as the 16th, and the whole back end is on Movie. NFA goes weaving-noodly-in-a-groove with Bobby counterpoints. Movie has a weird edit of GDtRFB: @0:38 the first solo is removed and @6:30 it fades into the scene from the movie with Jer supervising the array build, w/soundcheck incidentals. One More Saturday Night is perfect Jer/Bobby tandem (w/the trad "down the local skating rink"). Although it's strange enough that Movie starts with an encore, U.S. Blues also had a weird edit: @2:21 the 4th verse is removed (shine your shoes/steal your wife). The song was hot all week.

1st Set:  C
2nd Set: C+
3rd Set:  A-
Overall = 3½ Stars

Highlights
All of 3rd set but specifically:
Not Fade Away>Goin' Down the Road Feelin' Bad - Sits in the groove
One More Saturday Night & U.S. Blues - both are in their best-of-run versions

SOURCES: The miller blends AUDs where it needs them and offers clarity and balance. Most sources from this run are pitched incorrectly, muffled or incomplete. Two tracks are on Steal Your Face (in lesser clarity) and six (...or seven) are on Movie Soundtrack, albeit in edited versions.

The Seastones-Morning Dew is the spaciest music I've ever heard. I have this show already but it's on a rar file and I can't separate it. It would be nice to have separate songs.

Around & Around is a great opener, and oddly used as a closer most of the time. This version helps gets the blood flowing.
Sugaree is middling.
Beer Barrel Polka Tuning
Mexicali is great, once again. The octane level gets purer here.
Peggy-O seems another slow choice after a Bobby rocker. It also suffers from SQ issues. As for the song, it grows as it goes along, but still rather middling.
BIODTL
BEW sound issues continue but it’s tolerable. The song is fine, nothing amazing.
Cumberland Blues, all aboard! Energy boost train has arrived.
El Paso, listened to this on the Bear source. Great version!
TN Jed is a homerun, the tempo isn’t too fast (does that exist?) nor too slow, the playing by Jerome is spot on.
Jack Straw, great, energetic version.
Row Jimmy was much too slow for this sailor.
WRS is from the GD Movie Soundtrack. The last time they would ever do the Prelude and Part I, which I don’t really miss. I think it slowed down the subsequent LIG by setting the timing. This LIG is good, not a classic version, but definitely enjoyable.

Seastones>Jam>Dark Star>Dew
I listened to the Bear source for this meat sequence/set, as the GD Movie ejects what is easily my favorite Seastones. Then I had to turn around and re-listen because Bear’s source is missing parts, so I hit the Miller version.
These Seastones would have certainly been weird to attend, not knowing if it was going to be awesome and bleed into a set, or if it was going to be a snoozefest. I imagine when the music finally grabbed a person… For some, the subtle beginning may have been heaven at the time. It doesn’t maintain reliable sound until about 11 minutes or so, when we are clearly in a space environment. It grows haunting at the 18 minutes, and that’s Jerry’s cue to come out and join the madness. Once it is labelled as “Jam” it turns into Phil and Billy, Garcia not playing for a while. When he comes back out it’s with the rest of the band, and I’d say Dark Star is actually entered before the Miller delineation. The Dark Star is a great ride, with a heavy return to the theme after the first verse is sung, providing a structure jam flirting with exploration and maintaining a great energy. Getting around 14 minutes things transition from focus/exploratory to full on exploratory, the theme now gone. The Dew appears from a Dark Star that was verging on breaking down into drums after it had gone fully spacey toward the end. Supplemented by massive Phil Bombs, Jerry takes this Dew off the rails at the 6 minute mark for some nice X factor, and we’re not nearly done! Fanning and all the regularly trills and spills we love are in there. The finale is also outstanding, and ends one hell of a meat sequence/set.

Promised Land>Bertha>GSET
Back to basics to start the third set off with the classic Bob/Jer sandwich. Bertha is sort of plodding, unfortunately, after a nice Promised Land. GSET is usually a killer in this period, and while this has that nice Jerry tone, it’s missing the impact it usually delivers.
Ship sails on the smooth sea, Keith is one the piano rather than the organ.
NFA>GDTRFB>OMSN
Back to the GD Movie Soundtrack here,… The increased SQ makes it more enjoyable (I listed to the Bear version of NFA). However, there is the “end” of GDTRFB where it just goes into GD movie crapola… not the real song anymore. This means, Miller is the source to use. The NFA is fun, but kind of drags along in the end, though Bobby does get a solo. Jerry signals the entry to GDTRFB, which is better played. The ending is subtle, and the move to OMSN somewhat predictable. There’s an unnecessary 5 minutes or so of crowd at the end of this track…

US Blues from the soundtrack in all its glory, as most of us remember from the movie!


Performance Summary
The first set takes a minute to get going, but it’s a keeper, starting with Cumberland. The Bobby songs pre-Cumber are pretty hot, but Jerry’s slower songs were mediocre. The 2nd set, classic. The third set? Some disappointments in there, nice GDTRFB saves the set.

Sound Quality
This show was reviewed using many sources. Contact me if you want the break down, or to learn how to get these shows (and all really) in mp3 format. ro_ko@hotmail.com